Archive for 2016

ITNBluegrass Executive Director Laura Dake stands with rider Jack Carty. Carty, 88, works five to six days a week and gets rides from ITNBluegrass to get there. Photo provided BY TOM MARTIN

Laura Dake is executive director of ITN or Independent Transportation Network-Bluegrass. Due to a recent injury that left me temporarily unable to drive, I turned to ITN for transportation around Lexington and quickly discovered what an important difference this nonprofit is making in so many lives in the Bluegrass area. So, I invited Laura to share information about her organization.

Q: First, a brief history on the origins of ITN-Buegrass.

A: About 10 years ago or so, ITN-America decided to launch its model nationwide. In 2007, a lady named Gale Reece had recently retired and was looking for a project in the local community that had something to do with aging. She was particularly interested in housing, but went to the city of Lexington and was told that the real issue in this area was transportation — that people couldn’t really live in their homes without the transportation to get places. They found that ITN-America had started to launch their model nationwide, submitted an application to ITN-America, and it was accepted. I came onboard as a fundraiser because the requirement was that the affiliate needed to raise about $125,000 in order to start.

Heather Napolitano, president of the Philadelphia Chapter for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, stopped by the Fourth Annual LIVE Conference in Georgetown Oct. 19 to show her support for ITN Southern Delaware’s efforts to provide transportation for seniors and adults with visual impairments in Sussex County. The urgent mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinal degenerative diseases.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Lois Favier, executive director of ITNLehighValley (Independent Transportation Network), hosted a 10,000 Ride Celebration in January for drivers and riders to get together and celebrate this service. ITNLehighValley is a national nonprofit transportation service for senior citizens and visually impaired adults in the Lehigh Valley.

Lois Favier moved back to the Lehigh Valley several years ago to be on hand and closer to help her elderly parents. Favier, like many other adult children of seniors, was concerned with her parents driving on their own to appointments, errands and leisure activities. After sharing this concern with others, she learned, aside from herself providing transportation or the use of public transit, there were not a lot of options for her parents to utilize, while still feeling a sense of independence, safety and affordability. Favier started looking into creating a nonprofit affiliate of ITNAmerica (Independent Transportation Network) for the Lehigh Valley and began putting the wheels in motion for making this dream a reality.

Favier approached the national organization in Maine on how to go about establishing an affiliate. She conducted a demographic study of the local area and determined this would be successful in the Lehigh Valley.

Transportation is a key ingredient to help insure that Monterey County senior citizens maintain their independence. On Aug.5, BMW Manager Paul Giovino hosted the 25,000th ride of ITN Monterey with Executive Director of ITN Aimee Cuda at his dealership in the Seaside Auto Mall.

Independent Transportation Network/Monterey County (ITN) strives to meet the Monterey County seniors’ needs and those efforts were celebrated on Aug. 5 at the BMW Seaside location. BMW Manager Paul Giovino provided the space to hold the celebration.

In the tradition and the requirement of ITN’s program, Beach was picked up at her door and taken to the door of her destination, Seaside.

This unique service is not only about transportation but building friendships and helping to keep independence for seniors and the visually impaired. You can become a member completing an online application or download and mail on to us.

Recently, ITNMontereyCounty had a member sign on who needed the service only for a couple of months while he recovered from open heart surgery.

Jeff Craig, seen here with his wife of 47 years, Carolyn, is a perennial volunteer for several Peninsula organizations. PHOTO/RANDY TUNNELL

HE’S GIVEN 3,500 rides to people over the last four years, but he’s not a cabbie, nor is he an Uber kind of guy. Jeff Craig is a volunteer with ITN Monterey County — the Independent Transportation Network — which helps seniors and those with vision problems with low-cost rides.

Craig said volunteer drivers use their own cars and the service, which is operated on a membership basis, is available on-demand or by pre-planned appointment. Seniors frequently use it for medical visits, but they can use it for anything else, like visiting the grocery store or taking classes at MPC. Craig said the second-most-popular destination is the beauty salon. He’s been driving for the nonprofit since 2012 and is currently the chair of its board.

There are more than 50 volunteers and 300 member-riders, and Craig said they give an average of 50 rides a day, most of them less than four or five miles. The bulk of the rides occur Monday through Friday.

ITN Monterey County provides rides to seniors 24-hours a day, 7-days a week in nearly every community in the county. To date, their volunteers have given over 25,000 safe passages to our elderly citizens who have age-related issues that don’t allow them to drive safely. Congressman Sam Farr and other local elected officials come to BMW of Monterey to join ITN, some party-minded seniors and snacks from Eddison & Melrose Tea Room to mark the milestone. ITN receives zero public funding and depends on donations and good people to keep this vital service running.

Nancy Feichtl has focused her enthusiasm and lifelong desire to help others on senior citizens, creating a transportation service to help them get to medical appointments and other places.

Nancy is someone you could write a book about. She’s larger than life. And irrepressible:’ says Rehoboth Beach poet Sherry Chappelle about her friend Nancy Feichtl. lt’s that Energizer Bunny enthusiasm, combined with twinkle-in-the-eye humor charm and charisma, that help explain Feichtl’s special gifts and accomplishments: For more than 3 1/2 decades, she has performed count­less good works that range far, and wide, and deep.

Indeed, the roots of her community involvement reach back even further. In the late 1960s, Feichtl (pronounced Fike-tell) began her career as an English teacher at Sussex Central High in Georgetown, later transferring to Indian River High School in Dagsboro (local politicians Pete Schwartzkopf, Ruth Briggs King, and Ron Gray were among her students). A decade passed and she moved into administrative roles, becoming the principal of both Woodbridge and Shields elementary schools. Next, as director of instruction and special education for the Cape Henlopen district, she formalized pro­grams for at-risk and special-needs students, before heading the private Jef­ferson School in Georgetown. Feichtl accomplished all this while earning her master’s degree from Salisbury State Uni­versity, her doctorate in education from the University of Maryland, and serving on the executive boards of nearly two dozen cultural and education-related organizations – from Clear Space The­atre Company to the Delaware Associa­tion of School Administrators.